Murder-suicide suspected in death of Calif. editor

San Diego 
The longtime editor at a San Diego County newspaper has been found dead in her Borrego Springs home in what authorities believe was a murder-suicide.

Sheriff's deputies discovered the bodies of a man and woman Monday evening after receiving a call to check on the welfare of a woman who lived in the home, a sheriff's statement said. When deputies arrived, they found a man dead on a couch in the living room and a woman dead in the kitchen, sheriff's Lt. Larry Nesbit said. It is not believed there are any outstanding suspects, Nesbit said.

Their names and further information weren't released, but Borrego Sun newspaper staff writer Casey Jones said he was told by deputies that the woman was his news editor Judy Winter Meier, 61, and the man was her husband, Jim Meier, a 59-year-old retired park ranger.

Jones said deputies found Winter Meier shot in the head and chest in the kitchen and Jim Meier in the living room near the gun with a gunshot wound to the head, Jones said.

Investigators told Jones they believe it was a murder-suicide.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct autopsies to determine the cause and manner of death.

The editor's death stunned the picturesque town of 3,000 near the Anza-Borrego desert state park. The population doubles every winter when retirees flock there to escape the cold in their home states.

Scores of people went to the newspaper's offices Tuesday after hearing the news "to offer their condolences and express their utter disbelief," Jones said.

"It's the second murder in town this year, and there hadn't been one in more than 20 years prior to that," Jones said.

Winter Meier had worked at the semimonthly paper for more than 30 years, and did everything from editing stories to reporting in the street to taking pictures of the high school sports teams.

"Everybody knew Judy and she pretty much knew everybody too," said Jones, who started working at the paper four months ago. "She was a working editor. She was just everywhere. She had taken pictures of several generations of some families."

Jones said he saw no signs of trouble in their household but knew Winter Meier only in a professional capacity. Court records show the couple recently filed for divorce, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A former park ranger at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Jim Meier was allowed to retire in the late 1990s rather than be fired due partly to anger issues, former park Superintendent Mark Jorgensen told the Union-Tribune.

Winter Meier was a Kansas native who came to the town nearly four decades ago with her husband. She loved the desert and was involved in the community, serving as president of the local Little League and helping out at her church over the years.